Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother.

Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. Sirleaf is a Harvard-trained economist. She completed her education in the United States, where she studied at Madison Business College, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Harvard University. She returned to Liberia to work in William Tolbert's government as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1974. Later, she worked again in the West, for the World Bank in the Caribbean and Latin America. In 1979, she received a cabinet appointment as Minister of Finance, serving to 1980.